North Texas Swimming Completes Phill Hansel Invitational

Jensen, Kitching Shine On Day Three

HOUSTON -- The North Texas swimming team completed the Phill Hansel Invite on Sunday, finishing with 574 points and an eighth-place finish after three days of competition.

"Day three was another exciting day for the Mean Green swimming team," interim head coach Brittany Roth said. "Each of our athletes achieved either a season or career-best time before the day concluded."

Another North Texas record fell on Sunday, as Emmabeth Jensen etched her name atop the record book in the 100 freestyle, swimming a time of 50.56 in the finals, finishing in ninth place. She topped Becca Ploetz's time of 50.83 set in 2013.

Claudia Kitching swam a time of 2:15.80 in the 200 breaststroke preliminary round, achieving an NCAA B cut time. She followed that up with a season-best time of 2:15.30 in the finals, securing another top-10 finish for the Mean Green.

Sarah Vaisse, who broke the 100 breaststroke record on Saturday, had a strong swim in the 200 breaststroke on Sunday, posting a time of 2:16.14, the third-fastest in North Texas history and over two seconds quicker than her prelim time (2:18.92).

Ash Stone punched her ticket to the finals in the 200 backstroke, swimming a time of 2:01.59 in the prelims. She touched the wall at 2:00.45 in the finals, the fourth-fastest time a swimmer for North Texas has posted in the event and over a full second quicker than her prelim time. Jowita Sienczyk also swam a career-best time of 2:02.40 in the C finals.

Isabelle Morris (51.14) fell just short of breaking her career-best time, finishing 12th in the finals. Sara Whelan (51.50) set a career-high en route to a second-place finish in the C final. Prior to today, Whelan's best time was 54.22.

North Texas had another strong relay showing on Sunday. The 400 freestyle relay team comprised of Vaisse, Whelan, Morris and Jensen entered the weekend ranked ninth in the event based on its previous time this season, but the quarter raced its way to a fourth-place finish with a time of 3:24.88, a season best.

"I was very proud of the team this weekend," Roth added. "Everyone rose to the occasion and it was truly a team effort."

Quick Hits

 Haley Timmons' time of 2:06.11 in the 200 butterfly marked a career best for the freshman Kathleen Rousset (2:22.34) and Meaghan Rousset (2:22.55) each swam top times in the 200 breaststroke, qualifying for the finals Barbara Wasilewska (17:23.21) and Natalia Kwiatkowska (17:34.93) posted season-best times in 1650 freestyle Meredith Manry's time (2:08.16) in the 200 butterfly is the best of her career in the event  Emmabeth Jensen qualified for the 100 freestyle with a time of 51.15, which was the fastest of the season before her record-setting 50.56 mark in the finals Deneen Carter set a season-high time in the 1650 freestyle (18:08.52) Brittany Thurstin won the 100 free D final, clocking a time of 51.62  Natalia Kwiatkowska clocked a time of 2:06.34 in the 200 backstroke, her fastest of the season

Up Next For North Texas

The North Texas swimming team will be off until Thursday, Dec. 1, when it heads to Atlanta, Ga., for the USA Swimming Winter Nationals.